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Postgame Quotes
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Virginia Head Coach George Gelnovatch
On finishing the game
“I knew in the overtime there just was going to be a mistake – both teams were getting tired,” UVa head coach George Gelnovatch said. “It was either one team catching the other one in transition or a mistake, a goal knocked down. Sure enough it wasn’t. To our credit, until the last 20 seconds, we were going for it. We had six guys forward going for the box and we thought we were going to win.”
On Brian Ownby
“For me, he was the warrior of the match. Not just because of the goal he scored, but he was throwing his body around, tackling, defending, chasing, that’s Bryan Ownby at 100 percent. If we can keep him going like that in the postseason, big things will happen.”
On the ups and downs of the game
“It’s been that kind of year for us, so we don’t really waver too much with adversity to be honest. We have had a lot with it with injuries, a ton of other things. I think we stayed pretty focused. Wake is a good team. They played at the two hardest places in Akron and at Maryland and tied both of those teams and they’ll be a playoff team. We faced a good opponent tonight.
On North Carolina
“They beat us 3-0 here, 100 percent not a 3-0 game. I think the shots were 12-12, a little bit of a weird game. We are looking for the opportunity to play them at a neutral field.”
Virginia Sophomore Midfielder Brian Span
On the game
“It was pretty wild, I didn’t expect to come out to be 4-3. We were up 3-1 and all of a sudden it’s 3-3, totally different game.”
On the game winning goal
“I was going to take the corner kick and Hunter called me off, I was like ‘are you sure you want to take that?’ And he took it. Greg (Monaco) got the assist for it and I just hit it near corner.”
On the finish
“I’ve never had a goal like that with twenty seconds left before in my entire life, especially with this kind of crowd. I’m so excited I have no words to say.”
On responding to Wake Forest’s two late goals
“I think the whole game we knew that we had it in us to win the game. Even when we were down in the first half 1-0, we still had the same energy as we did when it was 3-3. We didn’t want to go to PKs. We had that last corner kick and we took every chance we had and we finally had that last finish.”
Wake Forest Head Coach Jay Vidovich
“What a tremendous first half, 1-0, with game-in-hand going into halftime. I don’t know what I did to screw my guys up. Certainly, I’ll give credit to Virginia, but I think we inflicted damage upon ourselves. The proud moment was that we fought back and we found our way back in the game during the last 15 minutes of the second half. It’s gut-wrenching to give it away with 20 second left on a restart, but we gave away three goals off restarts and that’s something we’ve got to fix.”
On team’s NCAA tournament chances
“We’re just hoping that the committee gives us another opportunity to play, another day to practice and another opponent to prepare for. This team is too good, in my mind, it’s too strong and shown too much down the stretch. We can compete and we’re a tournament team. We just hope they give us that opportunity, I know we’ll be in consideration for it. If given the chance, between now and that first game we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
On Luca Gimenez
“I think Luca has been very good. He did the same thing against NC State. He’s been a big inspiration and a big lift for us. Just because he’s not starting doesn’t mean he’s not a starter, he gives us tactical options in how we can play and things we can do… Today, once again, in the second half he did a tremendous job. He brought us back and gave us a chance to win the game.”
Sophomore forward Luca Gimenez
“We’ve played in the last four stadiums that won the national championship in the last four games, so it’s a tough one. But we’ve got to stick to the plan and I’m sure we’re going to do well. We just have to keep doing what we’re supposed to do.”
On the second half
“I think they came out in the second half with a better mentality than us that caused them to get their first goal – and consecutive goals. But I know we’re a better team and we deserved to win this game. It’s soccer, sometimes that happens. We need to just see where we can improve for the NCAA tournament.”
On his game
“I started off on the bench and just came in with the mentality of making a difference. I wasn’t very effective when I first came in, but I did what I had to do on the field to help bring us back. I did it off my teammates, they did a great job, but it wasn’t enough.”
On the team’s postseason chances
“In the past couple games we’ve done a pretty good job just playing soccer. Now, with this loss, we are just going to hope that we’re in the tournament. It doesn’t matter who we have to play, we’re going to come in with the same mentality and show what we’re all about.”